Magic Works
by WolfyToes
Summary: Sixth Year has started, and Katrina Rhinehart's busy as could be. She's got a new responsibility on her shoulders this year, and on top of all of that, Fred and George have really started getting serious about this business they're planning to start! But now she's feeling something she hasn't ever really felt before... Oh, the woes of being a teenager! Part 2 of 5 TEMPORARY HIATUS
1. A WEEK WITHOUT OWLS

She stomped, she stamped, and she screamed internally. Platform 9¾ was bustling with life like it did every September 1st. Smoke was billowing from the massive steam engine, the Hogwarts Express, and many teenagers and children and adults were crowded around in every which-way, talking and yelling and shouting at one another. Owls hooted, cats screeched, and toads croaked as Katrina Rhinehart, a Ravenclaw Sixth-Year who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, peered around every head and shoulder looking for somebody that was even remotely familiar. She, unlike the majority of the other students, was already dressed in her school robes and fingering something through the cotton of them idly. Not only was she oddly excited, but Katrina was more worried than the most worried worrywart and angrier than a Manticore.

They hadn't sent her an owl for a whole week. Now, normally she wouldn't be mad at all. Most of the time their letters were a good week apart anyways. But, you see, last week had been the Quidditch World Cup. And, not only that, but there had been a Death Eater attack.

Seeing as Katrina was not fond of Death Eaters at all, she was, of course, extremely concerned for her friends. The _Daily Prophet_ hadn't said anything about casualties (other than some baloney about rumors — she hated rumors), but she still couldn't help thinking that there was a possibility that something much more horrible than the Ministry was letting on had happened.

Katrina had already located Cora, her best friend. They had found each other almost instantly, and Katrina had already ranted her thoughts to her. The two of them had found a compartment and put their things away rather early, and Katrina had changed, too. That left her enough time to find the boys and chew them out.

Finally, oh thank Merlin, finally, she spotted them. Or not exactly them, but rather a small sea of flaming red hair.

Hiking up her robes, Katrina began to stomp louder and faster in their direction. Now she could see them. Both of their tall, lanky frames crammed up against each other with the rest of their family. They were laughing, of course — one of them probably just told a joke. And they had no idea how worried they had made her! Yes, she was happy to know that they were in fact alive and well, but still! They had _terrified_ her for a good while!

"Fred and George Weasley!" she yelled above the babble of excitement. "You — you haven't — not one —!"

Katrina began to stutter uncontrollably as she approached the twins, moving her hands from her robes to her hair, which was flashing from red to white to red again. Both Fred and George looked mildly surprised, yet at the same time extremely overjoyed.

"Katri–!" they both began, but Katrina threw her hands into their faces to cut them off.

"AH-BUH-BUH!" she shouted, still spluttering wildly. "Not a word!"

"But —" Fred began.

"_Not one,_" Katrina said dangerously. Fred clacked his jaw shut.

Sucking in a deep breath, she said, "Have you any idea how — how worried and — how I've felt? You haven't sent me a — a single letter since the Cup! I-I thought you were killed! Or injured, or somewhere in St. Mungo's!"

"To be fair," George said as the rest of the Weasleys began to eye Katrina curiously, "if we were in St. Mungo's, we wouldn't be able to send owls."

"Exactly!" Katrina shrieked, stomping one of her feet and glaring at George, then to Fred, then to George again. "I was worried sick!"

"Makes for the better reunion?" Fred asked nervously,

"A better — _a better reunion?_" Katrina seethed. They smiled apologetically. Breathing loudly through her nose, she said, "I'm going to kill you both."

"But if you do that, it'd be counterproductive," one of the Weasleys pointed out. Katrina was about to snap back at them, expecting it to be Ron, but stopped herself once she looked at him. It wasn't Fred and George's younger brother at all, nor was it Percy or even Ginny. She had never met this Weasley.

"I — uh — I suppose," she said slowly, furrowing her eyebrows together curiously. This one, not unlike the rest of his family, had bright red hair, but was stockier and a bit shorter than the others. He was very built, though, and covered in scars varying in grotesqueness — not that you could really see them under all of his freckles. A large, very shiny burn was plastered over one of his arms, but he didn't seem to care enough about it to cover it up.

"Charlie," he said, shoving out his hand and grinning. Immediately, something clicked in Katrina's head, and she felt herself brighten up immediately as she shook his hand.

"Oh, Charlie!" she said delightedly. "You're the one who works with dragons!"

"Yep," Charlie said happily, eying the top of Katrina's head and cocking a brow. "In Romania — uh — does that happen often?"

"What?" Katrina asked as Fred and George sniggered quietly.

"Oh, yeah," Fred said dismissively. "All the time."

"Metamorphmagus?"

Katrina jumped, releasing Charlie's hand and staring at yet another Weasley that she hadn't met. This one was taller and slightly lankier, though still very well-muscled and quite handsome, now that she thought about it. His red hair was rather long and pulled back in a ponytail and his ear was pierced with a dangling fang of some sort.

After realizing she was staring, Katrina began to nod feverishly. "Oh, yes! Yes, runs in the family."

"Her Dad's Robert Rhinehart," Fred told the other Weasley over his shoulder. Katrina sent him a glance that might have held the smallest of glares. "You know him, don't you, Bill? He's an Auror or something."

"Oh, yeah!" Bill said, nodding ad holding his hand out, too. "I mean, I haven't met him formally or anything, but I've heard about him. Wasn't he trained by Mad-Eye Moody?"

"Was he?" Mr. Weasley asked interestedly as Katrina shook Bill's hand.

"Yeah, he was," Katrina said as she shoved a rather thick piece of blue hair behind her shoulder. "But that's a long story — um — oh! Wotcher, I'm Katrina," she said to Charlie and Bill, who both nodded in greeting.

"You know her," George chuckled from beside Fred.

"Fred's only talked about you all summer," Ginny whispered to Katrina. She nearly jumped again, but then noticed that the youngest of the Weasley children had sidled up beside her while she had been shaking the eldests' hands.

"I have not!" Fred said quickly. Katrina thought the tips of his ears might have turned pink. Ginny laughed a little into her hand.

"Anyways," George hummed, "have you got us a compartment yet? And where's Cora?"

Katrina really knew that George was only interested in Cora, seeing as they had been dating during a good lot of Fifth Year, but she didn't think to tease him about it. "Yeah, we found one. Cora's waiting for us in the third car, I think."

"Why don't we just go then?" Fred asked, making to grab Katrina's arm and get away from his family, but Katrina jerked away awkwardly. As he gave her an odd look, Mrs. Weasley butted in.

"Oh, no you don't!" she scolded, marching up to Fred and wagging her finger. "You've got to wait for Ron, Harry, and Hermione!"

"But _why?_" Fred groaned. "We see them all the time already!"

"Yes, but _I_ don't!" Mrs. Weasley said finally.

As the Weasleys began talking amongst themselves again, Katrina rubbed her arm and looked anywhere but at Fred and George's faces. "I, uh, actually can't just go to the compartment yet. . . ." she said quietly.

"What was that?" George asked. Then he looked Katrina up and down, somewhat baffled. "And why are you wearing your robes already?"

"I — I uh —" Katrina mumbled, clasping her hands together and wringing them together loosely.

"What is it?" Fred asked. She looked down to her feet, blushing.

"I've been made a Prefect," she said.

Besides the rest of the talking going around the station, the twins had gone silent. Katrina was too nervous to look up at their faces and see their jaws hanging down to their collarbones.

"You — you've _what?_" George asked.

"I-I didn't mean to be!" Katrina said quickly, worriedly glancing up at him and Fred and then back down to her feet. "Professor Flitwick sent me a letter along with my school list and said that one of the old Ravenclaw Prefects had been kicked out for not doing their job, so Dumbledore had chosen me for some reason and — and I can't just turn it down! How rude would that be?"

"A Prefect," Fred whispered to himself, raising a hand to his forehead. "A — a _Prefect. . . ._"

"Do you have any idea —" George began.

"How utterly _brilliant_ that is?" Fred finished giddily. Katrina snapped her head back up, surprised. The two of them looked like Christmas had come early.

"We can get away with everything now!" George said brightly, his eyes lighting up.

"Imagine it, we'll be walking down a corridor with you, and suddenly Filch shows up —" Fred said.

"But see, then you'll say that you found us in the hallways during your patrol —" George said.

"And then we'll be safe, because you'll say that you're taking us to McGonagall's to get proper punishment!" Fred continued.

"When, in reality —" George said.

"We'd be scot-free!" they chorused merrily.

"Wh–" Katrina started, abashed, "_what?_ No! No, no, that's not how it works at all!"

Fred, who had begun to snicker, said, "Oh, yes, love. That's _exactly_ how it works."

For a moment, she was incredibly tempted to snap back and say something witty. But Katrina thought that would be silly, especially seeing as Ron, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter had just hopped off of the train to say goodbye to the Weasleys. So, with a final, deep inhale from her nose, she said, "Whatever, get us all in permanent detention for all I care. I've got to go up to the first car to meet up with the other Prefects or something like that, so I'll meet you later, alright?"

" 'Kay," George shrugged.

"And if you see Lee, take him to the compartment, will you?"

" 'Kay," Fred said indifferently. With a final look, Katrina brushed past the twins and headed for the first car. This was going to be an absolutely _fabulous_ year, she could tell.

* * *

Step, step, step, pause. Look around. Step, step, step, pause. Look around. And so the cycle continued. Katrina peeked into each compartment carefully, biting the inside of her cheek and wondering just _why_ Dumbledore had made her a Prefect. She didn't even know how to do these Prefect-y things! Monitor the other students? Punish them for breaking the rules? How were you supposed to do that without looking like a prick?

Merlin, at this point even Percy was better than her. . . . With a sigh, Katrina entered the third car of the Hogwarts Express, glancing here or there into a compartment but otherwise loosing any and all motivation to actually check for shenanigans. Let the other, more experienced Prefects do that. Right now all she wanted to do was catch up with her friends.

As if he had read her mind, Lee Jordan, a close friend of Katrina's, slid open one of the glass doors just as she was about to walk by. He grinned widely, and Katrina smiled. It really was nice to see him again.

"Well, what are you doing, just standing there?" George asked from inside. "Get in here already!"

Quick as a jinx, Lee had gripped Katrina's arm and pulled her into the compartment, closing the door shut behind. Cora bounced up from her seat beside George, her blond hair splaying over her shoulders messily as she jumped around, positively giddy.

"How did it go?" she asked excitedly. "With all the Prefects? What'd they say?"

Katrina awkwardly glanced at the ceiling. "Nothing much, really. You know, standard stuff. The rules, standard procedure, duties, routines . . . stuff like that."

"What about the badge?" Lee asked eagerly, playfully pushing Cora out of his way and nearly shoving his face in Katrina's chest to look at her Prefect pin. "Ooh, look, it really is shiny!"

"Not with you fogging it up!" Katrina laughed as she lightly smacked Lee's face away. Laughing, he puffed out his chest and banged it against hers, as if to prove dominance. Katrina, however, only smirked. After a scrunched-up look on her face, she was suddenly much taller and much larger than Lee, despite his rather muscular build.

He blinked, looking up at Katrina. She didn't look anything like herself anymore, she was sure. She had been thinking of a half-giant before she hat metamorphosed, after all.

"Got some new tricks up your sleeves, have you?" Fred asked, impressed. Katrina grinned widely before furrowing her brow again, strained. Then she was back to normal. Her robes returned with a nearly-silent _pop,_ as they had disappeared and had been replaced by ragged cloths the moment she had changed shape.

"Oh, yes," Katrina nodded sagely. "Dad's taught me lots of stuff over the summer, you know, and Mum's charmed every article of clothing I own. You can't just change yourself without some proper training first."

"So, what you're saying is," George said, smirking, "last year you actually _couldn't_ turn into a troll and trample us all?"

Katrina contorted her face a bit in thought as she reached for her suitcase up on the luggage rack. Alphonse, her Great Grey owl, hooted calmly from inside of his massive cage as she hurriedly tugged the black briefcase out from under multiple sacks of quills and things and sat it on a bench, where the insides of it rattled and banged as if it held much more than it let on.

"No, I couldn't," Katrina mumbled absentmindedly, snapping her suitcase open and looking into it. Not that she could see anything, it was filled with some sort of inky black fog. "I could only do humans then, for the most part, and I had to transfigure all of my clothes." She shoved her hand elbow-deep into the suitcase, sifting around to try and find a certain something. Still distracted, Katrina plucked something from inside and threw it over her shoulder. "Heads up!"

Fred caught it rather easily. "What's this?" he asked, looking at the glass thing curiously. It was rather plain and simple, almost boring. Holding it up to his face, he gazed into his own reflection. "A mirror?"

"You're rather handsome, aren't you?" the mirror replied in breathy voice.

Exclaiming loudly and jumping nearly two feet into the air, Fred threw the mirror up. George caught it just before it hit the ground, Lee at his heels. They both exhaled, relieved, as Cora watched like an amused bystander.

"It's a Looks-a-Lot Mirror," Katrina answered as she shoved her arm, now elbow-deep, farther into the suitcase. "I got it around the time I was ten or eleven, I think. I used to love the thing. Dunno why, to be honest. I need to throw it out."

The mirror gasped, causing George to jump and throw it into the air again. Katrina, however, caught it expertly and dropped it back into her bottomless suitcase. Completely unaffected, she clacked the suitcase shut again and held up what she had been looking for. With a lopsided smile, she saw the looks on the boys' and Cora's faces light up with glee.

It was her camera.

"Me first!" Lee cried, leaping for the camera but being pulled back by his shoulders by Fred and George.

"_No,_" they both said, "_me first!_"

"Excuse you," Cora said loudly over the three of them and sitting herself uncomfortably close to Katrina, "_I'm_ the best friend, therefore _I_ get the first go!"

"Yeah, but I'm the one who snogs her!" Fred said indignantly.

"Yeah, but you're the one who hasn't sent me a single owl over the past week!" Katrina retorted with a laugh, sticking her tongue out at him. Fred stuck his tongue out right back, much to the amusement of the others.

"And neither have you! Or you!" Katrina said to George and Lee, whose smiles immediately dropped into frowns. "And, sorry Cora, but the camera is mine, so I go first."

"Fair enough," Cora sighed, but still smiled. "What should we photograph first, then?"

"I was thinking a group shot," Katrina said as she stood in front of the compartment door, fiddling with one of the many nobs on her camera and listening to it click quietly. "Sort of like a documentation, you know? For the memories?"

While she fiddled, all four of them clambered about loudly and nearly made the floor shake. When Katrina looked up, they were already in line, grinning broadly and with their hands looped around each other in some way. Smiling, Katrina put the camera to her eyes and said, "Alright then, say 'Every Flavour Beans'!"

"_Every Flavour Beans!_" they all called cheerily, and with a resonating _click!_ the picture had been taken.

Katrina looked fondly down at her camera again, turning a nob and popping a doodad. She meant to glance up briefly at her friends, who had begun to chatter again merrily, but found herself transfixed by them. Just over the break, they really had grown.

Cora had gained a bit of weight. Not much, really, and not in a bad way at all. The slightest bit of chub was protruding from her stomach, but the rest of it was filling itself nicely around her hips and waist. She was growing into quite the curvacious witch! Meanwhile, Lee had grown an inch or two and his long dreadlocks had been pulled into a high ponytail that fitted him nicely. Fred and George looked identical as always, but for some reason, when Katrina looked at Fred, she found herself much more interested in how his hair had grown out and how his face had grown longer and skinnier, and how — damn — he had gotten even taller! To think, she had made herself grow over the summer just to be eye-level with him, only to have him tower over her still. . . .

"Well?" Cora asked impatiently. Katrina shook her head and stared at her friend blankly. "Are you going to let me see the camera or not?"

"Oh!" Katrina said quickly, realization hitting her in the face. "Oh, right! Sorry, sorry — uh — here! Yeah, take it!"

Shoving the camera into Cora's hand, Katrina quickly stood between the twins again. Cora looked at the camera, confused.

"Do I look alright?" Katrina asked Fred quietly. He looked her over, knitting his eyebrows together and moving his head around as if to get a good look at her from every angle.

"Well, your hair's blue again, that's good," he said, the edges of his mouth twitching. "But you've got a speck on your nose — here —"

He raised his hand to Katrina's nose, where she expected him to rub the speck off. But instead he flicked her harshly, causing her to flinch, jump away from him and into George, and clap her hands over her nose.

"Ow!" she cried. "That hurt!"

"Oi!" Cora laughed as she clicked one final switch on the camera. "No horseplay!"

"Do you want me to kiss it better?" Fred asked, waggling his eyebrows. Lee groaned.

"Did you do that just so you could ask me that?" Katrina asked, rubbing the tip of her nose tenderly.

"Maybe."

"Then no."

"But —" Fred said, but Cora had started to shout over him.

"Say 'Every Flavour Beans'!" she said.

Throwing her hands behind her back, Katrina smiled at the camera despite the redness she could feel spreading over her face. Fred swiftly swung his arms over her shoulders, grinning charmingly.

"_Every Flavour Beans!_" they said together.

_Click!_

"My turn!" Lee yelled ecstatically. "My turn, my turn!"

"Okay, okay!" Cora laughed, handing the camera to Lee. Triumphantly, he began to whirl around, clicking madly at anything that he could lay his eyes on.

"Hey!" George said, jumping on him and beginning to wrestle Lee for the camera. "You've already taken your picture, come on, give us a turn!"

"Yeah!" Fred said, pumping one of his arms and cheering from the sideline. Katrina had the oddest feeling that George thought that Fred was wrestling with him, which was why Fred kept making odd grunting noises and commentating humorously. Cora giggled profusely into her hand, hardly able to keep her eyes open as the camera was launched into the air and expertly caught by Fred.

Almost immediately, he pulled Katrina closer by the shoulder and pointed the camera at them both, making a multitude of silly faces at it and clicking madly. Katrina tried to push him of, cackling with laughter, but got nowhere, seeing as Fred had an amazing grip and could hold onto her quite easily. Though she supposed she didn't really want him to let go, really.

George thudded over, long ginger hair ruffled and shirt in disarray, and ripped the camera out of Fred's hands to take it for himself.

"Hah-hah!" he yelled in victory. "I got it!"

As Fred began to shout back and forth with George, Katrina sighed contently and casually slid her hand around Fred's waist. It was nice to be in the middle of chaos again.

"I've missed you," she mumbled into his sweater.

"Oh, really?" Fred asked interestedly. Katrina pinched his side just a bit in surprise — she didn't expect him to hear. "Is that why you were so worried? I thought you thought you had just lost your boy toy or something."

"Boy toy?" she asked incredulously, looking up at Fred's face only to see him grinning down at her. He looked more gleeful than before somehow.

"If it's any solace," he said quietly with a wink, "I've missed you too."

And there we go, that started it. In a sudden rush of overwhelming emotion, Katrina felt her stomach burst alive with bubbles and butterflies. A brilliant flush washed over her cheeks as she looked away from Fred, and a highly uncomfortably prickling from her scalp told her that her hair had turned lavender. She could practically feel his grin spreading across his face.

"Oh, Katrina, my love," he said dramatically as George and Lee brought Cora into their scuffle, "how wonderful it is to finally hold you in my arms again! We have been separated for far too long!"

"I'll say!" George spat from between Lee's elbow in a headlock. "He went through relapses without you, Trina! You should've seen him!"

"Shut up!" Fred said hotly, pouting a bit as Katrina laughed a little and pushed a bit of violet hair off of her shoulder.

"If you care about me so much," she said coolly, "then you should've sent me an owl."

"_Ooh,_" Lee cooed excitedly, releasing George and listening intently. George hit the floor with a muffled _thud._

"The _Prophet_ said there weren't any casualties!" Fred retorted elatedly.

"Yes, but I still worried!" Katrina retorted back, crossing her arms and satisfactorily feeling her scalp prickle again. She was back to blue.

"Look at you," Cora said jokingly, "already acting like a married couple!"

"Too bad that's ages away," George chuckled as he sat up on the floor. "I'd love to see them bicker as an _actual_ married couple."

"Imagine the conversations they'd have!" Lee snickered. Katrina shuffled her arms awkwardly, trying to force back the rising prickling in her hair. Fred looked a bit awkward too, and with a glance up at him she thought the back of his neck might have been pink. "_ 'Fred, you left the toilet seat up again!'_ _'No, that wasn't me, that was the ghoul!' 'But we don't _have_ a ghoul!' _"

George had disintegrated into a fit of laughter, and Cora was right behind him. She collapsed on the floor beside him, leaning on him for support.

Fred feigned a grumpy attitude and huffed, sitting down roughly on one of the compartment benches and dragging Katrina with him. Chewing on the inside of his cheek, he pulled her into his shoulder and firmly kept her there, despite the many jokes thrown their way by George and Lee. And, for a good while, that was where they stayed.

Finally, though, the topic changed and everybody got into a seat. George and Lee started a game of Exploding Snap, in which Katrina was only mildly interested in. She had her attention fixed on Fred and her camera, which he had swiped from Lee. Fred kept snapping photos of absolutely everything, from the compartment lamp to his shoes. He seemed rather fond of it.

"It's nice to know you pay more attention to my camera rather than me," Katrina joked.

"Jealous?" Fred asked as he turned the camera around and took another photo of the two of them.

"No," Katrina laughed. "Not in the slightest."

Fred chuckled quietly to himself as Katrina used his shoulder to her advantage. She leaned into him and settled her head on his collar, oddly comforted and finding herself dazing into space and thinking of what all had happened over the summer.

She and the twins had finally finished the Ton-Tongue Toffees. And, not only that, but Fred and George had also invented a line of fake wands that were growing more and more complex. Their order forms had, sadly, been destroyed by their mother, but that was alright. They were planning to sell most of their things during school, anyways.

Katrina had actually learned how to ride her brother's broom — not that she didn't know how to in the first place, but she had been rather horrible at flying since the beginning. Now she was moderately adequate.

Her father had taught her how to metamorphose into much more complex things, such as animals and beasts. Inanimate objects were scheduled for next year, he had said; that gave her plenty of time to practice what she had learned so far.

The Hogwarts Letters had also come, and with that was her shiny blue-and-silver Prefect badge and letter from Professor Flitwick. . . . She still didn't really know how she was going to deal with such a responsibility on her shoulders. But she supposed she would get through it somehow.

Then Katrina looked over the compartment again, where Lee had been covered in ashes from one of his cards blowing up and Cora was nearly rolling on the floor with laughter. George took the camera in victory again, almost like a trophy.

Yes, she thought, this was going to be a fabulous year indeed.

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

_And so begins Part 2 of our wonderful series!  
_

_Katrina's started Sixth Year along with her friends, Cora, Fred, George, and Lee. Who knows what could be in store? Oh, wait — I do! And I'll give you a hint, they're called hormones o;_


	2. THE SORTING

"See, this is what we were thinking," George said as he flattened a piece of parchment on the floor of the compartment. "A sort of custard cream that, after you eat it, transfigures you into a big canary for a bit."

"So . . ." Katrina mumbled, crossing her legs under her and squinting at the chicken scratch written on the parchment, "Canary Creams?"

She, Fred, and George had all migrated to the floor after the Lunch Trolley came around. Chocolate Frog cards were strewn everywhere across the compartment at this point, accompanied by the more disgusting Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and a few half-eaten Licorice Wands. Cora and Lee were busying themselves with another game of Exploding Snap.

"Yes! Exactly," Fred said excitedly, thudding George on the shoulder. "See, I told you she'd catch on."

"Yeah, but _I_ told _you_ that she wouldn't need to catch on in the first place," George said imperiously. "You don't give her enough credit."

"Stop milking it," Katrina said, amused.

Their long ride continued on . . . and on . . . and on. Katrina and the twins talked almost nonstop about ideas for future products and Fred and George even whipped up a new order form while they were at it. The rain outside their compartment window was thudding harshly onto the glass by the time George looked up again, a curious expression on his face.

"Hey, Trina — d'you know what's going on at Hogwarts?"

"Hm?" Katrina hummed, folding one of their pieces of parchment between her fingers. "What do you mean?"

"Well, your dad works for the Ministry, right?" Fred asked, now looking curious himself. Cora and Lee had abandoned their eighth game of Exploding Snap and began to pay attention, too. "See, our dad and mum have been acting weird and saying stuff about the Ministry doing something-or-other at Hogwarts."

"Has your family been acting weird?" the twins asked in unison.

"No," Katrina said immediately, knitting her eyebrows together. But then she really thought about it and remembered her father's face right before she had boarded the Hogwarts Express the first time. His hair had flared a brilliant lime-green for the first time in a week (he had been incredibly serious and out of his usual character ever since the Death Eater attack) and did indeed seem excited about something. "Well, now that I think about it, maybe Dad was. But they never said anything."

"Damn," Fred grumbled, returning to the order form.

"We've been dying to know since Percy mentioned it," George sighed, scribbling another thing down and then crossing it out.

"Yeah, my Mum and Dad have been the same way," Lee added. Cora looked thoughtful for a moment, but then shrugged.

"I've no idea," she said.

The afternoon dragged on, and eventually everyone had changed into their school robes. Katrina fingered the badged pinned to her chest absentmindedly, watching the rain splatter on the window and the sky turn incredibly dark. Thunder rolled overhead and, in the back of her brain, Katrina realized that the train had stopped.

"C'mon, little miss Prefect," Lee snickered as Fred and George pulled her up by the arm, "we're gonna get one of the front carriages!"

"What?" she asked as Lee threw her suitcase into her arms. The sound of many things falling and banging into each other erupted from it loudly, though slightly muffled. "Why one of the front ones?" Lee then handed her Alphonse, this time a bit more careful.

"The faster to get inside, of course!" Fred said, poking Katrina in the back until she was in the hallway and weaving between multiple excited students.

"Do you want to be soaking wet during the feast?" George asked as he raced after them, Cora and Lee on his heels.

"Well, no," Katrina admitted loudly over her shoulder while leaping onto the Hogsmeade platform. Alphonse screeched as rain suddenly pelted inside of his cage. "Oh! Sorry Al," Katrina said, shoving as much of his huge container under her robes to keep him from getting too wet.

"Hurry up!" Fred cried, tugging on Katrina's shoulder through the growing crowd.

"We're trying!" Lee shouted from behind them somewhere.

The downpour seemed to be egging them on, the raindrops growing larger and larger and falling faster than ever. Though it did take a bit longer than expected, Katrina, Fred, George, Lee, and Cora were all at the second horseless carriage within a few slow minutes and helping one another inside.

Once Lee was hauled up by both of the twins, he quickly shut the door behind him and dropped his things onto the floor, slumping into a seat beside Katrina and heaving out a sigh.

"I'm soaked," he grumbled as Katrina giggled.

"You look like you've took a swim in the lake," Cora agreed from Katrina's other side.

"Might as well have," George said, running a hand through his wet hair and grimacing slightly before sitting down, followed closely by Fred.

After a few moments of silence, Fred asked, with a growing smirk, "So a Prefect, eh?"

Groaning a bit, Katrina nodded. "Yeah."

"What'd they say it the Big Head Meeting?" he asked coyly, propping his chin up on his fists as if he was actually interested.

Raising her head importantly, Katrina sniffed, "It wasn't a _Big Head_ _Meeting._ The Head Boy and Girl explained what the basic duty of a Prefect is to the new Fifth Years and me, and also touched up on a few of the rules to the more experienced Prefects."

"Oooh," the twins chorused in sarcastic enthusiasm.

Snorting a bit, Katrina rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I'm supposed to help lead the First Years up the Ravenclaw Tower this year 'cause I'm new. So I won't be able to see you until the morning during breakfast."

As all three of the boys clapped in wild, playful merriment, Katrina smiled a small, lopsided smile. She really had missed them and their idiotic cuteness.

"Well, that certainly sounds interesting!" Cora said brightly, grinning. Katrina grinned back, though a bit reluctantly.

"I dunno . . ." she said after a while, "It's a lot of responsibility. . . ."

"Yes, but that means Professor Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick trust you," Cora point out.

"That only makes me even more anxious," Katrina breathed, letting her shoulders slump. Lee clapped her roughly on the back.

"Don't worry!" he said, beaming. "You'll be breaking the rules more than ever this year, so think of that as time to relax!"

Katrina only slumped her shoulders more.

It wasn't long before the five of them were racing out of the carriage and into the castle. Katrina might have lagged behind just the slightest bit, peering up into the cloudy, raining sky to take in the magnificence that was Hogwarts. It was extremely tall, extremely large, and had an extreme number of brick turrets. She reckoned she had a special place in her heart for it all.

Then the openness of the outside was quickly blocked away as the high ceiling of the Entrance Hall blocked out Katrina's view. Rain was no longer pelting onto her face or hair and the comfortable warmth of inside flushed around her, making her robes feel a bit sticky against her skin.

"Watch out!" Lee said, tugging Katrina's arm and throwing her to the side. _SPLAT!_ Water had suddenly burst from thin air all over Lee's clothes and he floor.

"What was—" Cora began, appearing at Katrina's side. A wild cackling from overhead had them shooting their eyes up and around, searching for the cause of such chaos.

"Peeves!" Fred and George said gleefully. Peeves the Poltergeist was floating above, handling a multitude of red balloons, surely filled with water. With another wicked laugh, Peeves threw a water balloon at the twins, and another at Katrina and Cora.

Immediately, as expected, they all began to run for the gigantic double doors that lead to the Great Hall. But, also as expected, the floor was impeccably slick and they began to slip and slide everywhere. Another _splat!_ and stumble later, Katrina felt that awful lurching feeling that forced her stomach up into her chest and felt her scalp flare with what was surely a bubblegum-pink color.

Her mind working on its own, she scrunched up her face as a picture began to suddenly spread through her mind like wildfire. A moment later, a sound that wasn't quite human had erupted from her mouth and she was splayed out on the floor.

Startled, Fred, George, Cora, and Lee looked behind themselves, still sliding wildly. Peeves cackled even more.

"_QUACK!_" he shouted. "_Quack, quack, quack!_"

Katrina, who was growing a headache and hadn't noticed the fact that she had changed at all, sat up and shook her head to steady herself. But then she noticed that her arms were folded to her side and didn't feel like normal arms did. Her feet were webbed and as she began to wobble around, startled, Katrina tried to speak but only found herself rasping loudly. She had turned into a duck.

Cora and Lee were silently snickering to themselves while Fred and George laughed almost as loudly as Peeves. Katrina, finally regaining her senses, faced the twins sternly and looked up at them from her short stance. Then, with a ruffle of her feathers, she was back to her normal self.

"It's a defense mechanism!" she said, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and feeling her scalp prickle uncomfortably. Purple again.

"No —!" George gasped, holding the stitches in his sides.

"It's a _hilarious_ mechanism!" Fred finished for him, doubled over and holding his stomach. Cora laughed a little, but after Katrina sent her a glare, she stifled her giggles behind her hand and looked away, hiding a grin.

Sucking in a slow, deep breath, Katrina closed her eyes and raised her chin. " 'Least I'm funny without even trying. Everything you do is awfully strained."

She smirked. The twins had begun to splutter, surprised and maybe a little angry.

"_What?_" they chorused. "We're not strained! _We're brilliant!_"

"Yeah, yeah," Katrina began to smile to herself, swinging her arms behind her back and crossing them there instead as she began to waltz into the Great Hall, "whatever you say."

"What's that supposed to mean?" they shouted, slowly beginning to smile themselves. Fred and George jogged in behind Katrina, Fred aiming to tackle her around the shoulders and cling onto her, she was sure. But she was much too fast and turned down one of the long tables, her house's, and stuck her tongue out at him over her shoulder.

Before either of them could say anything, though, another loud _splat!_ resonated from the Entrance Hall and Cora shrieked, jumping into the Great Hall while holding up her robes. Lee was at her heels, holding his buttocks, where a large wet mark had been made. Peeves must have started throwing balloons again.

"I'll see you tomorrow!" Katrina told the twins, who rolled their eyes and waved their hands at her as if she were stupid. Laughing quietly to herself, Katrina walked down the Ravenclaw table and sat at the very front so she could get a good look at the First Years. While most students thought the Sorting was boring, she found it exciting.

As Katrina stared up at the ceiling, which had swelling, swirling clouds billowing around angrily suspended in thin air as if the Great Hall opened up to the sky (which it didn't, really — it was only an enchantment), she began to think of her own sorting. She had been anxious, but eager. Every detail had been painted in some sort of excessively in-you-face way, so much so that Katrina's could remember each second like it his all been yesterday. The torches on the walls flickering, the fire in the large hearth roaring, the enchanted ceiling that had not been filled with thundering clouds but a calm, darker-than-black sky, littered with twinkling stars . . .

_Katrina filed in with the other to-be students, glancing nervously around as the ginormous doors before them opened to reveal a massive room filled with long wood tables, each holding at least 100 students each. One table, she noticed, had a bunch of students with robes accented in yellow, while the one beside it was accented in green, the next blue, and the final red. She new what these colors meant already, seeing as she had been born to a witch and wizard who had both attended Hogwarts — those colors represented the four houses of Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor, respectively._

_ She, personally, loved the thought of being a Ravenclaw, just like her mum. Mrs. Rhinehart always talked about how Ravenclaws represented intelligence and creativity, two traits that Katrina thought were wonderful in themselves. Mrs. Rhinehart also talked about how dumb her husband was (though it was in a joking sort of way), and how all Gryffindors were always rambunctious and dim-witted, commonsense-wise. Mr. Rhinehart disagreed wholeheartedly, of course, but sometimes he walked around drooling like a dopey monkey as if to mock (or maybe even prove) how silly Mrs. Rhinehart's funny accusations were._

_ Professor McGonagall, a witch in emerald-green robes and a large, pointed witch's hat on top of her tightly-bunned hair, lead all of the new First Years to the front, where they turned their backs on the staff table that was set before the house tables so that they could face the students that may or may not become their new housemates. Katrina gulped. There were so many of them . . . all of them! What if her house didn't like her?_

_ Professor McGonagall had placed a stool in front of the First Years and a raggedy, patched old hat on top of it. Katrina furrowed her eyebrows. A hat? What was that for? But then, with a loud _riiiip!_ a tear opened to form a mouth on the hat as it faced the rest of the hall. And then it began to sing:_

Good day to you, I say to you,

or should I say night?

It's wonderful to see you again

except for the few who are new tonight.

To those First Years who are here to hear

me sing my lovely song,

prepare yourselves for a lesson in which

I will teach you a history long.

Godric Gryffindor, you see,

loved ambition and bravery

while Helga Hufflepuff preferred

a person who wouldn't be deterred.

Salazar Slytherin was a picky one in which

only those of pure-blood heritage, he thought,

could be intellectually enriched.

Rowena Ravenclaw, however, knew this was not true

and took in any that showed wit and cleverness

could make him rue.

Now you know their stories,

but what about mine?

Well I'm the Sorting Hat,

and I'm really quite divine.

Though my edges may have frayed

and my skin may have been patched,

I can look inside your minds and

find the house that's your perfect match.

So try me on, I can't bite

since I have no teeth,

and I'll sort you into your new house

that you will soon meet.

_ The hundreds of Hogwarts students clapped wildly at the Sorting Hat's song, and Katrina nearly began to clap, too, until she noticed the other First Years were standing stock-still, either in shock or worry. Professor McGonagall unrolled a piece of parchment and cleared her throat. It was time._

_ "Abbey, Aubrey!" she called. Aubrey Abbey gulped a few feet away from Katrina before cautiously stepping up to the stool, where McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on her __head._

_ Not but two seconds later, the Sorting Hat shouted in a loud, reverberating voice, "HUFFLEPUFF!"_

_ The table with the yellow-accented robes clapped and cried wildly as Aubrey sighed, took off the hat, and carefully made her way down to her new house table. So it was that easy? Katrina thought. Then why was she still so worried?_

_ "Adkins, Edward!" McGonagall called._

_ "GRYFFINDOR!"_

_ The red-accented table jumped up immediately, hooting and hollering wildly as Edward Adkins jumped into their massive group of mayhem. He seemed to fit in quite well — no wonder the Sorting Hat didn't even need to touch his head._

_ And so the Sorting went on, moving from "Banks, Jacob!" to "Byrd, Alyssa!" Professor McGonagall moved the parchment between her hands a little and then called, "Calloway, Coralline!"_

_ Katrina jumped up and out of her dazed stupor. Cora, her best friend since forever (or something along the lines of that), moved from her side and up to the stool, where she bit her lip and sat down. Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on her head and, immediately, it shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"_

_ Cora grinned as the hat was taken off and the Hufflepuff table roared with applause. Nearly skipping, she joined her new housemates._

_ Katrina was relieved. Her mother had always said that Hufflepuffs were especially loyal and kind, which she thought fit Cora perfectly. The Sorting Hat really did seem to know what it was doing._

_ As Professor McGonagall continued to go down her list, the Sorting Hat continued to sort. Sometimes it took him a second or two, and other times there were two or three minutes of complete silence. But, eventually, the First Year under the hat was sorted. Katrina hoped she would be quick like Cora. She could practically hear the Sorting Hat yelling "RAVENCLAW!" for her._

_ No, wait, that was "Reynolds, Eric!" The Ravenclaw table clapped and whooped enthusiastically as Eric shuffled into a seat beside to taller students, smiling broadly._

_ "Rhinehart, Katrina!"_

_ She jumped. Was it her turn already?_

_ Hesitantly, Katrina began to approach the stool. Everything was suddenly much, much scarier. Here she was, now sitting on the stool in front of the whole school, everyone looking at her and hoping that she was going to be sorted with them. If she didn't want them to think she was weird, she would have let her hair prickle into an uncomfortable lavender. But she kept it as it was, a darkish sort of reddish-orange that practically defined "ginger". But whatever curls she had were covered up almost completely by the Sorting Hat as it was placed atop her head and rested well below her eyes._

_ The sudden darkness was comforting. Empty and calming, much nicer than all of those staring eyes. Now the hat was going to shout "RAVENCLAW," she new it! She could feel it tingling through her whole body!_

_ "Ravenclaw, eh?" whispered a voice in her ear. Katrina jumped and stiffened considerably before she realized that the hat was talking to her, and only her — not the whole school. "Heh, a little jumpy, are we?"_

_ She didn't answer._

_ "But you think you're a Ravenclaw, do you?"_

_ Yes, Katrina thought, I know that I am._

_ "Are you sure?"_

_ She paused in her thoughts. Did she really know? Was the hat messing with her? "No," the hat said, but she ignored it. She didn't know if she was a Ravenclaw, and that was bothersome. What if she was put into some other house like — like _Gryffindor?

_"Oh, Gryffindor!" the Sorting Hat said delectably. "That's quite a good house, you know, and you'd be quite good in it. . . . Yes, I see traits of Hufflepuff in you, too . . . loyalty, empathy . . . but you're much braver than you think. Bravery can be found in the most anxious people, you know . . . in fact, bravery is often found when anxiety is at its highest. You're very chivalrous, too, though you don't seem to know it . . . either that, or you don't acknowledge it . . ."_

_ Oh, no, Katrina thought, I don't want to be in Gryffindor! It's filled with odd, silly people, like Dad!_

_ "Not every Gryffindor is silly," the hat said. "That's prejudiced, like saying every Slytherin is snooty and every Hufflepuff is a crybaby. You want to be a Ravenclaw? How would you like to be known as the weird bookworm?"_

_ I wouldn't, Katrina thought._

_ "Exactly," said the hat. "But that ignorance you have to things, like I was saying before, is often a Gryffindor trait. . . . Let me ask you again, are you sure you're to be a Ravenclaw?"_

_ Katrina thought about it. She honestly had no idea. By the sounds of it, she was a Gryffindor, through and through . . . but she didn't want to be a Gryffindor! She wanted to be a Ravenclaw!_

_ "Alright, alright," the Sorting hat sighed in her ear. "So be it. RAVENCLAW!"_

_ The last word had been shouted out to the whole of the hall. Katrina nearly forgot the other students were there, they had been so quiet. As Professor McGonagall pulled the hat off of her head, Katrina stared, wide-eyed, at the clapping table before her with blue-accented robes. She'd done it. She was a Ravenclaw._

Jerking back into reality, Katrina realized that everyone was finally inside of the Great Hall. And, not only that, but the Sorting Hat had already sung its song and the new First Years were just being sorted! Slapping herself mentally, Katrina cursed under her breath. She could be so daydreamy!

Stewart Ackerley was sorted first. He was a new Ravenclaw — Katrina and the rest of her house clapped for him like they did to every new First Year to join them. Then Malcolm Baddock, Eleanor Branstone, Owen Cauldwell, Dennis Creevey. . . .

Katrina blinked. Was little Dennis Creevey wearing Hagrid's coat? As the Sorting Hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" Katrina remembered that it was raining outside and the First Years took boats over the lake rather than the horseless carriages. He must've fell in, she reasoned, or just got so wet that Hagrid gave him his coat for some reason.

Now that she thought about it, all of the First Years looked soaked to the bones. Poor things. At least they didn't get pelted with water balloons. . . .

The Sorting went on for a good long while, and Katrina clapped as every new Ravenclaw came to sit down the table somewhere. They were nearly finished when "Quirke, Orla!" joined the Katrina's table to loud applause. Orla sat a few seats away and across from Katrina, who curiously watched her from the corner of her eye. Something seemed to have caught her attention, but Katrina didn't know why she kept glancing her way.

"Hello, Orla!" Stewart Ackerley said brightly from beside Orla. The small black girl jumped and turned to face him, startled. "I'm Stewart! Nice to meet you!"

Stewart shoved his hand into Orla's, shaking it feverishly. Orla smiled awkwardly, but greeted him nevertheless. "Hello, Stewart. U-uhm, I don't mean to sound ignorant, but . . . how is it raining inside of here, but we're not getting wet? Magic?"

"Oh, you must be a Muggle-born!" Stewart said. Orla blushed and looked down at her lap, apparently ashamed. Stewart quickly stopped himself, though, and said, "Oh, no, I didn't mean it that way! Being Muggle-born doesn't mean anything, really!" Orla seemed to perk up a little bit from this. "But yeah, sort of by magic. See, I read this book called _Hogwarts, A History,_ and it talks about how the ceiling in here is actually enchanted to look like the sky! Cool, huh?"

"Really cool," Orla agreed, starry-eyed. "So it's just fake, like a hologram?"

_A what? _Katrina thought, puzzled. Stewart seemed to think the same thing.

"A hollow-what?" he asked.

"Oh," Orla said, knitting her eyebrows together again. "Never mind. Muggle things."

Professor Dumbledore was at his brilliant podium after the last student was sorted, smiling warmly at all of his students. The hall immediately went silent. "I have only two words to say to you," he said. "Tuck in."

Food suddenly appeared on the gold platters that decorated the house tables and Pumpkin Juice filled each student's goblet. Katrina set her plate carefully, watching Orla gasp from the corner of her eye.

"Alright," Stewart said slowly. Then he began to grin, puffing out his chest. "Anyways, if you have any questions, come to me! I'm a half-blood, see, both of my parents are magical, so I know a lot about the wizarding world."

"Well, uhm," Orla said quietly after ogling over all of the food "that girl over there . . . with the blue hair . . . how did she do that? Was it Muggle hair dye?"

"Muggles have hair dye?" Stewart mumbled curiously to himself, but glanced at Katrina. She looked away quickly. "And I dunno, she could be a Muggle-born, too. I've never met her 'cause I'm a First Year too, you know."

"Oh, right," Orla blushed again. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Stewart brushed it off easily with a shrug. "We'll just ask another person, right? Hey, uh —" Stewart caught Padma Patil's attention by tapping her arm. "Sorry to bother you, but you see that girl with the blue hair down there? Who's she?"

Padma didn't even look in Katrina's direction. "Katrina? She's a Sixth Year."

"Is she a Muggle-born?" Stewart asked as Orla glanced up at Padma shyly.

"No," Padma said. "She's a half-blood. My sister, Parvati, said that her dad's an Auror in the Ministry."

"Is he really?" Stewart asked, awed. Katrina snorted silently to herself. Parvati and Lavender seemed to have studied up on her ever since they had learned she had so-called "Seeing" abilities last year. Orla looked more confused than ever. "An Auror is a sort of bad wizard catcher for the Ministry of Magic," Stewart explained.

"So . . . like a policeman?" Orla asked.

"A what?" Padma and Stewart chorused. Katrina shook her head from all of the nonsensical Muggle words and tried to listen harder to their conversation.

"Nothing, never mind," Orla said again. Stewart shrugged to Padma.

"But no, she's a half-blood, all right," Padma said, plucking a roll from a nearby platter. "Why?"

"Well, Orla here is a Muggle-born, see, and she was curious as to how she had blue hair. I sorta am too, now that you mention it . . ."

"Oh, well," Padma said with a growing smile, "Katrina's a Metamorphmagus."

"A what?" Orla and Stewart both asked. Katrina smiled faintly to herself as she took a bit of Roast Beef and slid it onto her plate.

"A Metamorphmagus," Padma repeated. "She can change her appearance at will."

"Oh, I've heard of them!" Stewart said excitedly as Orla looked starry-eyed once again. "Meta-more-whatsits! Mum mentioned one of her old school friends was one of them!"

"Can she really?" Orla whispered in awe, staring at Katrina now. For some reason, Katrina had begun to grin.

"Oh, yeah," Padma said. "Believe it or not, none of us knew she was until last year. Used to, Katrina was generally normal and just sorta changed the way she looked every year for some reason. I don't know why, probably just a metamorph thing. But last year she decided on blue hair, and we all eventually figured out that she was a Metamorphmagus 'cause her hair changed all the time. Still does, I'm sure."

"That's . . . really cool," Orla breathed. Katrina locked eyes with her, and suddenly the little black girl was stiff. Still grinning a bit, Katrina sent Orla a wink and allowed her hair to prickle gleefully at its will. It had turned into a bright and brilliant lime-green.

Orla gasped again. Katrina returned to her food, feeling quite satisfied in herself, and listened as Orla squeaked, "I think she heard us . . . !"

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER TWO**

* * *

_Sorry this one took longer than usual! I'm still going through Innuendo withdrawals I guess ehehe uwu; But no worries! I'm super excited for Magic Works to get started! ouo We're getting to the part I'm really anticipating! ;u; _

_Thank you for all of your lovely, lovely reviews! 3 And views, and favorites, follows, etc! It really means a lot, thank you!_

_Also, if you haven't yet, I suggest that you please read Innuendo, the first installment of this series! It'll fill you in on a lot of stuff that I haven't quite touched on yet! uwu_


	3. WELCOME TO HOGWARTS

As Katrina finished her pudding, she noticed that Orla kept glancing her way, looking with a mixture of both shyness and curiosity. Well, Katrina thought, it was a good thing she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Now Orla could see her a good lot of the time! Then again, she supposed she wasn't in the Ravenclaw common room much, not since last year. She'd spent more time with the Gryffindors.

Musing worriedly, Katrina wondered if she could spend as much time in the Gryffindor common room. It wasn't her house, but it was as good as, in her opinion. Not to mention their common room had a much more homey sort of feel (Katrina's living room had a very similar theme, most likely her father's doing). Not to say she didn't like Ravenclaw Tower, because her common room was by far her favorite and always would be her favorite no matter what, but the Gryffindors as friends and students were very welcoming to her since the beginning of Fifth Year.

Shaking her head free of busy thoughts, Katrina set her golden fork onto the table and idly wiped her hands on her robes, though they weren't dirty. She wanted to think of something else. Sifting around the Great Hall, she looked to the staff table. All of the seats but one were filled, and in the back of her mind, Katrina took note that the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had not arrived yet. Either they were late or there wasn't one entirely . . . which she didn't think was possible with Dumbledore as Headmaster. So Katrina decided that the new professor must be caught up in their duties (or simply being lazy, but she hoped not) and then turned her attention onto Dumbledore, who had risen once again at his podium. The Great Hall's tittering faded away immediately as they awaited his begging of the year speech.

"So!" he said brightly. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give a few notices."

Katrina nodded to herself. There were usually notices at the beginning of the year, and reminders, and other things. Maybe Dumbledore would mention the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker," said Dumbledore, "has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs." Katrina thought she could hear the twins groaning from a ways off, but set her giggles aside to continue listening. "The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it."

Katrina had no doubt that the twins already knew this list by heart, and were most likely responsible for at least three quarters of it. Dumbledore might have smiled the slightest bit as he continued and said, "As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village to all below third year.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

"_What?_" Katrina gasped, immediately whipping her head around to the Hufflepuff table. Her younger brother, Alex, had his mouth open wide and his eyes looked like they could pop out of his sockets. One of his best friends, Cedric Diggory, was right beside him, though maybe a bit more thoughtful. Just a bit. Turning to the Gryffindor table, Katrina saw Fred and George were also rendered speechless (for once) and Lee was sitting stiff as a board.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy —" Dumbledore said through the shocked silence, "but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts —"

But, quite suddenly, Katrina felt a booming so loud it made her ribs vibrate and the floor beneath her feat groan in dislike. Thunder roared above the Great Hall from the enchanted ceiling, and Katrina looked up to see the clouds swirling faster than ever. Not a moment later, the huge doors to the hall slammed open and Katrina jumped nearly two feet into the air. Startled to her wits' end, she faced the doors, only to see a mangled sort of figure standing there.

Cocking a single eyebrow, Katrina watched as a sudden _crack_ of lightning lit up the man, who was even more mangled than she thought. She couldn't get many details from her seat, since she was so far away from the doors, but she could tell that his hair was long and mangy along with the rest of his ugly, contorted face. The black traveling cloak he wore made his shoulders look much huger than they surely were, and as he began to walk up the aisle, a loud _clunk_ echoed through the room every-other step.

On and on he clunked, every eye on his dark, shadowed body and, by the sound of it, every breath baited. Who could this be? It couldn't be the new professor, could it? No, surely not — but then _who was he?_

If Katrina knew she was staring, she would have stopped. But she didn't, so on she stared, watching along with every other student as this odd man clunked up to Dumbledore, most likely to explain his absence. Another bolt of lightning and a few gasps later, Katrina had found herself rooted to her seat, wide-eyed and stunned.

It couldn't be anyone else — his eye. . . . One was normal, beady and the like, but the other . . . it was the brightest blue she had ever seen and was whizzing about hither and thither. The scars on his face, the chunk out of his nose . . . the missing leg. There was no mistaking him.

_Mad-Eye Moody._

If Katrina was staring before, then she was definitely staring now. But not at Moody, no, at the wall, or the podium, or the ceiling. Anything that _wasn't_ Moody. What if he — what if he knew who she was? Knew that she was her father's daughter? What would he do?

But Moody sat down on Dumbledore's right side and didn't acknowledge Katrina at all. For a very, very brief moment, she felt relieved. But then an icy anxiety began to claw at her chest as she realized that he was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

How would her dad react? Would he be thrilled? Probably. A little wary? Probably. But mostly thrilled. She, however, felt nothing short of intimidation.

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody was said to be the best Auror there ever was. Sure, he was retired now, but that didn't make him any less great. He was strong, clever, and extremely intelligent, if not a little paranoid . . . and incredibly vigilant, if Katrina remembered right.

You see, she knew a lot about Mad-Eye Moody. Her father, Mr. Rhinehart, was an Auror and had told her tens of thousands of stories that revolved around his training days. And who trained him? None other than Mad-Eye Moody.

Katrina didn't really know much of how or why Moody trained her father, other than it was shortly after Mr. Rhinehart had graduated school and joined the Order of the Phoenix. Then he'd trail off and not say anything else, mumbling things under his breath. She didn't ask or tempt him any further because she knew what the Order of the Phoenix was made for, but only somewhat. It was very serious, so she supposed that if her father decided not to talk about it, it was for the best.

"May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Dumbledore asked the Great Hall, which were still quite silent. "Professor Moody."

As Professor Moody's magical eye whirled up and down the tables, Katrina forced her hair from green to brown as subtly as she could (which wasn't very subtle at all, mind you). Orla furrowed her eyebrows from behind her, but Katrina was too busy staring at the opposing wall to notice. Hopefully Professor Moody wouldn't recognize her somehow. She'd never met him, but there was no telling what that eye of his could do. . . .

Katrina jumped as Dumbledore cleared his throat. "As I was saying," he said, "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

She swiftly forgot that Moody was in the room and whipped her head around to look at Dumbledore, awed.

"You're JOKING!" Fred shouted from a ways away. Katrina slowly began to grin as everyone around her chuckled and laughed at him (something she was sure made Fred swell with pride).

"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore chortled, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar."

But as the headmaster went off track, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat from his left and set him straight again.

"Er — but maybe this is not the time . . . no . . . where was I?" Dumbledore asked. Without waiting for an answer from any of the students, he continued, "Ah, yes, the Triwizard Tournament . . . well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely."

That's exactly what Katrina did. She knew about the Triwizard Tournament in great detail because of all the books she had read about it; it was extremely dangerous, but extremely mind-blowing. Three students from the wizarding schools in Europe — Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang — were chosen from a neutral party, each to represent their school. The students would go through three different tasks, all very dangerous in their own unique way, and fight for points to win the Triwizard Cup. However, she remembered, almost every tournament had at least one death, mostly because the chosen student had been young an inexperienced.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," Dumbledore said as Katrina eased out of her excited thoughts, "the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age — that is to say, seventeen years or older — will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration." As multiple shouts of outrage and anger began to spout here, there, and everywhere, Dumbledore began to raise his voice even louder. "This is a measure we feel is necessary, given the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion." Dumbledore's bright eyes traveled over the tables to a certain area and, as Katrina followed his line of vision, she found Fred and George giving him such a deathly stare she wouldn't have been surprised if Dumbledore staggered in his place. "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen."

Although the twins didn't agree, Katrina felt that Dumbledore had made the right choice. As great as it sounded to be Hogwarts champion, she was sure it came with a price — new fame, new glory, and new anxieties and pressures. Not something she was entering in. She wasn't fond of Fred or George getting their heads gnawed off by a Sphinx, either, so she was quite happy with the decision overall.

"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year," Dumbledore explained. "I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is for you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"

Katrina immediately bounced up and was quick to jog and weave her way as far up the crowd gathering its way to the doors as possible. Fred and George were standing a little ways away, just close for her to catch snippets of their conversation.

"We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?" George asked.

"They're not stopping me entering," Fred grumbled stubbornly. "The champions'll get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand Galleons prize money!"

"The judge wouldn't pick you, anyways!" Katrina called at them from her spot. Fred and George turned to scowl at her rather than Dumbledore now. "You're acting like immature pricks like that, just suck it up and have fun watching the other students get mauled by Manticores!"

As George opened his mouth to retort, Katrina turned her back on them and raised her hand high, waving it above her head. "RAVENCLAW FIRST YEARS, FOLLOW ME! Follow me, everyone! Blue hair, blue hair!"

She had forgotten all about Moody since learning of the tournament, so her hair had flared blue again without her even noticing. Once Katrina was finally in the Entrance Hall, she waited with the other new Prefects (two boys, Johnathan English and Richard Hightower) as the Ravenclaw First Years gathered around them. Katrina hollered with John and Richard and could only hope that by the time most of the students were out of the Great Hall that the First Years had gotten the picture.

"Alright," she mumbled under her breath nervously as she rubbed her hands together and looked over the twenty-something eleven-year-olds. Turning to John and Richard, she asked, "Do either of you want to go first?"

The two Prefects shook their heads quickly. Sighing to herself, Katrina shoved a chunk of hair over her shoulder and looked back at the First Years.

"Ravenclaws!" she called out to them loudly, projecting her voice so their excited chitchat dwindled away. "Hello, nice to meet you, it's lovely to have you join us today. As I'm sure you know, Ravenclaw is the house notorious for intelligence, wit, and cleverness. My name is Katrina, and I'm a Sixth Year Prefect who'll be showing you to our common room along with my, and now your, housemates, John and Richard."

Katrina motioned to the Fifth Years behind her before put her hands on her hips and scrunching her face up in deep thought. "Any questions?" she asked.

A couple of hands raised into the hair. Feeling a small surge of confidence, Katrina pointed at the first hand she saw raise, which was a tall, blond boy that was quite skinny.

"Where is the Ravenclaw common room?" he asked.

"Good question!" Katrina said as she began to lead their group to the Grand Staircase. "The Ravenclaw common room is at the top of Ravenclaw Tower. It's a bit of a long climb, but you get used to it after a couple months here.

"This is the Grand Staircase, by the way," Katrina said as the First Years gasped, looking up at the winding marble stairs that were sliding left and right and every which-way possible. "You're going to want to familiarize yourself with them as much as possible. The far-left staircase on the fourth floor leads to a different corridor on Friday and I think there's at least thirty-two faulty steps here or there, so when I tell you to skip a step, skip it. Come on then, we're up on the seventh floor!"

Katrina began to walk up the Grand Staircase, feeling much better about all of this Prefect stuff. She seemed to be doing quite well, she though. It wasn't anywhere near as hard as she thought it'd be.

"I have a question!" A girl near the back squeaked. Katrina turned around, stepping backwards up the staircase they were on with hardly any effort.

"Yeah?" she asked, peering over the many short heads to get a good look at her dainty face.

"Where are the other common rooms?"

"Another good question!" Katrina smiled as Johnathan and Richard took up the back, whispering between themselves and nodding up at her. "The Hufflepuffs are near the kitchens somewhere, the Gryffindors are inside Gryffindor Tower hidden behind a portrait — though don't ask how I know — and the Slytherins are crawling around the dungeons somewhere."

"Why're the Gryffindors behind a portrait?" a shrewd-looking boy asked, curling his lip distastefully.

"Well, they don't want any of us in there, do they?" Katrina asked with a bit of a smirk as she turned around and jumped a step. "Skip that step, there you go — but all of the common rooms are protected somehow. Even ours! I won't tell you what it is till we get there, though, so hold your hippogriffs," she said as the shrewd boy opened his mouth again.

"Uh, miss?" a boy asked from the middle of the group immediately after jumping the step.

"Hm?" Katrina asked, directing the First Years up a staircase from the landing so she could get a better look at him.

"Why's your hair blue?"

She grinned. " 'Cause I like it. But what about you, what's your favorite color?"

The boy, puzzled, said, "Uh . . . red?"

With her smiled growing, Katrina scrunched her face up and concentrated on the brightest shade of crimson she could think of. Within moment, her scalp prickled the slightest bit and all of the Ravenclaws paused to gasp her nod appreciatively. Her hair was now red.

"H-how —?" The boy breathed, but was interrupted by none other than Stewart.

"She's a Meta-more-whatsit!" he shouted from beside Orla.

"Close, but not quite!" Katrina said, biting her lip enthusiastically as her hair faded to bright blue again. "To those of you who don't know, I'm a _Metamorphmagus,_ which means I can change their appearance at will. In short, I can be anything I want to be."

While the majority of the First Years whispered in awe, Katrina felt her cheeks burn the slightest bit and turned to John and Richard. "Do you two want to have a go?" she asked them quietly as they approached, herding the Ravenclaws up the staircase.

"Nah, you're doing fine," John said with a flash of a grin.

"I don't think I'd be any good at answering their questions anyway," Richard said with a nervous glance at the chattering First Years. "You seem to know what you're doing though, so go right on ahead."

"Okay," Katrina nodded with a small, apologetic smile. "I just feel like I'm not letting you talk at all. . . ."

"We can live," John said, widening his grin even more. "Now go on, we haven't got all night to show them around."

"Oh, right!" A bit flustered, Katrina jumped up the stairs two steps at a time and got to the front of the Ravenclaws again. Sucking in a quick breath, she asked, "Any more questions?"

"How d'you become a Metamorphmagus?" a dazed-looking girl breathed from a few feet away. "How much training?"

With a breathy chuckle, Katrina awkwardly scratched her cheek and looked at a nearby portrait that lined the tall walls of the Grand Staircase. "Well, uh, you can't train to be one, sorry. . . . You're born with it."

"Oh," the girl said, clearly discouraged, But Katrina tried to send her a reassuring smile.

"You can always train to be an Animagus when you're older, though!" she said brightly, hoping to get the girl's spirits up. "You have to do lots of difficult stuff, mind you, and the Ministry assigns you an animal . . . since becoming and Animagus means you can turn into an animal at will, for those of you who didn't know . . . but it's pretty similar to metamorphosing!"

A few of the First Years looked at Katrina in starry-eyed wonder.

With a bashful shuffle, Katrina returned to the front of the group and began to lead them down a corridor.

"Can you learn how to become an Animagus here?" a wistful-sounding girl asked from behind Katrina somewhere.

"I dunno," she answered honestly. "I've never heard of it at Hogwarts, but you may want to ask Professor McGonagall, our Transfiguration teacher. She's an Animagus, you know. Gave us quite a scare my first year."

"Oh, wow," another girl gasped.

"What kind of animal is she?" a boy closer to Katrina asked.

"A cat," Katrina said over her shoulder, turning a corner with the First Years following close at her heels.

"What _kind_ of cat?" the boy sniffed haughtily, as if he didn't believe a word Katrina was saying. "For all we know, she could turn into a tiger and eat us."

"You're eleven, who would want to eat kids as scrawny as you?" Katrina asked with the slightest tinge of condescension. Then, with a sudden burst of confidence, she screwed up her face and said, "Besides, she's only a common tabby. Like this —"

Katrina thought of the clearest picture she could think of Professor McGonagall's animagus form. Within seconds, she felt herself significantly shrinking and her robes fading away into thin air. Katrina was now walking silently on all fours at a sort of trot as the First Years gasped again in wonder, and the boy in the front looked at Katrina in surprise.

With a twitch of her tail, Katrina led them around another corner. Knowing that a concealed passage of sorts was coming up, she wound her cat face up again and was back to her normal, tall-and-lanky self within a moment's time, robes and all.

"But how did you — is that even —?" the boy began to splutter.

"Possible?" Katrina asked, stopping at an obviously very brick wall. "Magic's a wonderful thing, y'know. Everything those Muggles have said? Almost all of it's true to a certain extent. Yeah, they might stretch the truth sometimes — like we can't just make food out of thin air, that's one of those rules — but otherwise it's completely and utterly possible. Now, follow me."

And, without any hesitance, Katrina stepped through the obviously very brick wall as if it wasn't there at all. It rippled a bit in her wake, almost like water, but at the same time not at all. The First Years, now apparently growing used to the whimsy inside of Hogwarts, followed her without much reluctance.

It took a good few minutes, but after a few huffs and puff Katrina, John, Richard, and the new First Years were at the top of Ravenclaw Tower, huddled along the staircase and most of the younger kids peering over each others' heads to peek at the Eagle Knocker.

"But there's no handle!" a girl cried from a ways down.

"How're we supposed to get in?" Stewart asked. He and Orla had somehow made their way to Katrina's side.

"Oh, that's easy," she said casually with a shrug. "Just watch —"

As she stepped up to the door that indeed had no handle, Katrina cleared her throat. In reply, the Eagle Knocker craned its head a bit, almost like it was stretching awake from a deep sleep, and looking her in the eye with a bronze stare.

"What is the difference between ignorance and stupidity?" it asked in a soft, bell-like voice.

While the First Years cooed in amazement, Katrina turned to them and asked, "Any ideas?"

They seemed too engrossed in the magical knocker to answer, so Katrina faced the door again and decided to answer, "Ignorance is lack of knowledge. Stupidity is having knowledge, but disregarding it completely."

"Well said," the Eagle Knocker nodded, and with a loud creak, the wooden door swung open to reveal the marvelous Ravenclaw common room.

"File in, then, file in!" Katrina said, waving the First Years into the common room along with John and Richard. "Take a look around, sit in a chair, read a book, or go to find your dormitories. Boys' are on the left, Girls' on the right! They go by year, check the plaque on the door. Welcome to Hogwarts!"

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER THREE**

* * *

_I would just like to say that any content from the book _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ is copyrighted to J.K. Rowling and is in no way mine. (i.e. Dumbledore's speech) This goes for the rest of the story, also!  
_

_Now that that's done, I'M SORRY THIS TOOK FOR-FUCKIN-EVER I DISCOVERED ACHIEVEMENT HUNTER AND IT'S TAKEN OVER MY LIFE._


End file.
